Introduction to Community Forestry in Cambodia Community Forestry Evolution

CAMBODIA COMMUNITY FORESTRY 2005 Sokh Heng i Ty Sokhun ii

1. Introduction to Community Forestry in Cambodia

In many countries, community forestry has proved successful in bringing about sustainable forest management Sokh 2001. In Cambodia, handing out forests to the local communities through community forestry projects is believed to be one among a number of options available for sustainable forest management. The number of community forestry projects in Cambodia has increased remarkably in the recent past, mainly due to the Government’s supportive policy of the practice. The scope for the development of community forestry in different forest contexts in Cambodia is related to several institutional, legal, practical and functional issues of forests as occur in production forest areas, non-forest areas, concession forest areas, and protected areas. The area with the most potential for future expansion of community forestry in Cambodia is in the former concession forest areas. Most community forestry initiatives so far have been established in degraded production forests. It is also expected that more community forestry in high value production forests will be introduced.

2. Community Forestry Evolution

The concept of community forestry was introduced in Cambodia in the early 1990s. Below is a brief history of the development of community forestry both in terms of pilot projects and legal frameworks of community forestry. Sokh Ty i Sokh Heng, Forestry Administration, Cambodia ii Ty Sokhun, Director General of Forestry Administration, Cambodia 37 38 CAMBODIA • The first community forestry project was initiated by a non-governmental organization called MCC, in collaboration with the Forestry Administration former Department of Forestry and Wildlife in 1994 in Takeo province. • Using this first project as an example, a few International NGOs including Concern Worldwide and FAO also started to set up some community forestry projects in various provinces including Kampong Chhnang, Pursat and Siem Reap provinces. • In 1996, a Community Forestry Sub-Decree was drafted by the former Department of Forest and Wildlife DWF and submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries MAFF. Upon receiving the draft from the MAFF, the Council Minister rejected it and ordered the MAFF to revise the draft. • A Community Forestry Working Group was formed under the Sustainable Management of Resources in the Lower Mekong Basin Project SMRP-MRCGTZ in 1998. The purpose was to facilitate all relevant institutions and organizations with community forestry implementation, and to assist with policy and community forestry technical development to make sure community forestry implementation would have official legal recognition that would support community forestry initiatives in the field and also allow for the exchange of information between involved stakeholders. • An inter-institutional training team called the Cambodia Community Forestry Training Team CAMCOFT was established in 1998 involving the Ministry of Environment, Forestry Administration, Royal University of Agriculture and Concern Worldwide to organize and conduct capacity building for community forestry practitioners and government staff. • The draft Community Forestry Sub-decree CFSD that was withdrawn from the Council of Ministers, was revised by the CFWG and reviewed by all relevant institutions and organizations involved in community forestry and local communities at different levels. This newly revised CFSD was again submitted to MAFF and the Council of Ministers for approval. The Sub-decree was approved by the Council of Ministers in early December 2003. • Community Forestry Guidelines, a legal document known as Prakas, for implementing the CFSD was drafted by the Community Forestry Working Group in 2000. The Prakas included four important annexes: the CF Regulation, CFMC By- law, CF Agreement and CF Management Plans. • The Forestry Administration organized a National Community Forestry Program Taskforce in early 2004 with representatives from organizations with experience implementing community forestry in Cambodia. The taskforce is headed by the Community Forestry Office CFO of the Forestry Administration and is supported by Oxfam Great Britain Oxfam GB, The World Wide Fund for Nature WWF, Concern Worldwide Concern, Community Forestry InternationalCFI and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency JICA. The main responsibility of the taskforce is to gather and analyze data in order to develop an overall picture of the current state of community forestry in Cambodia, and to develop recommendations and a framework for a National Community Forestry Program. • The draft Community Forestry Guideline Prakas was disseminated to relevant stakeholders for comments in early 2005. It is expected that the draft will be finalized and sent to MAFF for enactment by the end of 2005. Once the CF Guidelines Prakas is enacted, the CFSD can be properly implemented and officially recognized and community forestry can take place in Cambodia. Sokh Ty 39 Table 1: CF Evolution in Cambodia Year Events Remarks 1994 First CF project was initiated supported by MCC, and NGOs 1996 Community Forestry Sub-Decree was drafted Supported by several NGOs 1998 Community Forestry Working Group Supported by SMRP-MRC was formed GTZ 1998 An inter-institutional training team called Supported by several NGOs Cambodia Community Forestry Training Team was formed 2000 CF GuidelinesPrakas for implementing the Supported by several NGOs CFSD drafted by the CF Working Group 2003 Draft CF Sub-decree CFSD enacted 2004 The FA organized a National Community Supported by several NGOs Forestry Program Taskforce End It is expected that the draft of CF Guidelines Supported by several NGOs of 2005 will be finalized and sent to MAFF

3. Policy and Legal Framework